Metal balconies are often specified in the plans drawn up by architects for new or existing buildings. These balconies may be decorative, but in many cases must be structurally secure and capable of supporting the load of several people as well as the furniture (balustrades, panels, handrails, etc.) needed to make the balcony safe.
In existing building approaches, a metalworker will generally attend the site to bolt ‘stubs’ onto/into the concrete frame while the basic structure of the building is being constructed. At a later stage, often after the main structure of the building, including brickwork and windows is complete, a frame for the balcony is manufactured off site from mild steel, galvanised and transported to site. The balcony frame is then lifted by crane and hold aloft adjacent to the stubs whilst the frame is firstly aligned with the stubs and then bolted onto them by workers working underneath or adjacent the loose balcony.
Whilst this method has been followed for many years and produces acceptable results, there are a number of problems with this process.
Firstly, there is a safety risk for the workers who are aligning the balcony and bolting it in place. These workers normally have to either work from either an elevated platform (a “cherry picker”), or on a scaffold tower from the ground level or the floor below. There is inevitably a risk of falling associated with such work at height. Furthermore there are risks associated with the manual handling of trying to push the balcony into position, and a risk of trapping hands and fingers when trying to get the balcony into position and bolted on. These risks are increased because of the length of time it takes to fix a balcony using this method (see below).
Secondly, it takes a substantial amount of time to install each balcony using this method. The crane has to stay in position supporting the balcony in mid-air while the workers align and bolt the balcony firmly in place. The workers then have to move all their access equipment and tools up to the next floor or balcony location before they can start the next one. As a result, the delivery driver also has to stay on site whilst each of the balconies is lifted into position one at a time through the day.
Thirdly, the resulting balconies are far from ideal in terms of their appearance, or alternatively require additional work on site to improve their appearance. Due to the need for the workers installing the balcony to have access to both the bolts and the nuts in order to secure the balcony to the building, the plates through which the bolts pass to secure the balcony to the building have to project out from the building line so they can be accessed from both sides. This means the plates and bolts are usually visible from beneath the finished balcony which does not look very good. In order to address this problem, balconies can have a soffit fitted underneath them, such as timber or metal cladding. However since access is required during the installation process to the bolts and nuts which will be hidden by such a soffit, the soffit has to be retrofitted to the balcony once all the bolts are tightened, which takes up more on site time.
The present invention aims to address one or more of the above problems with existing balcony construction and fitting processes.